Standard 7, Speaking and Listening

Standard 7: Listening and Speaking: Skills, Strategies, and Applications

Students formulate thoughtful judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused and coherent presentations of their own that convey clear and distinct perspectives and solid reasoning. Students deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine the traditional speech strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. They use gestures, tone, and vocabulary appropriate to the audience and purpose. Students use the same Standard English conventions for oral speech that they use in their writing.

Comprehension

10.7.1
Summarize a speaker’s purpose and point of view and ask questions concerning the speaker’s content, delivery, and attitude toward the subject.

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication

10.7.2
Choose appropriate techniques for developing the introduction and conclusion in a speech, including the use of literary quotations, anecdotes (stories about a specific event), or references to authoritative sources.

10.7.3
Recognize and use elements of classical speech forms (including the introduction, first and second transitions, body, and conclusion) in formulating rational arguments and applying the art of persuasion and debate.

10.7.4
Use props, visual aids, graphs, and electronic media to enhance the appeal and accuracy of presentations.

10.7.5
Produce concise notes for extemporaneous speeches (speeches delivered without a planned script).

10.7.6
Analyze the occasion and the interests of the audience and choose effective verbal and nonverbal techniques (including voice, gestures, and eye contact) for presentations.

Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications

10.7.7
Make judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

10.7.8
Compare and contrast the ways in which media genres (including televised news, news magazines, documentaries, and online information) cover the same event.

10.7.9
Analyze historically significant speeches (such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech) to find the rhetorical devices and features that make them memorable.

10.7.10
Assess how language and delivery affect the mood and tone of the oral communication and make an impact on the audience.

10.7.11
Evaluate the clarity, quality, effectiveness, and general coherence of a speaker’s important points, arguments, evidence, organization of ideas, delivery, choice of words, and use of language.

10.7.12
Analyze the types of arguments used by the speaker, including argument by causation, analogy (comparison), authority, emotion, and logic.

10.7.13
Identify the artistic effects of a media presentation and evaluate the techniques used to create them (for example, compare Shakespeare’s Henry V with Kenneth Branagh’s 1990 film version).

Speaking Applications

10.7.14
Deliver narrative presentations that:
• narrate a sequence of events and communicate their significance to the audience.
• locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
• describe with specific details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of characters.
• time the presentation of actions to accommodate time or mood changes.

10.7.15
Deliver expository (informational) presentations that:
• provide evidence in support of a thesis and related claims, including information on all relevant perspectives.
• convey information and ideas from primary and secondary sources accurately and coherently.
• make distinctions between the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas.
• include visual aids by employing appropriate technology to organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs.
• anticipate and address the listeners’ potential misunderstandings, biases, and expectations.
• use technical terms and notations correctly.

10.7.16
Apply appropriate interviewing techniques:
• prepare and ask relevant questions.
• make notes of responses.
• use language that conveys maturity, sensitivity, and respect.
• respond correctly and effectively to questions.
• demonstrate knowledge of the subject or organization.
• compile and report responses.
• evaluate the effectiveness of the interview.

10.7.17
Deliver oral responses to literature that:
• advance a judgment demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of works or passages.
• support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text and to other works.
• demonstrate awareness of the author’s writing style and an appreciation of the effects created. • identify and assess the impact of ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text.

10.7.18
Deliver persuasive arguments (including evaluation and analysis of problems and solutions and causes and effects) that:
• structure ideas and arguments in a coherent, logical fashion using inductive or deductive arguments.
• contain speech devices that support assertions (such as by appeal to logic through reasoning; by appeal to emotion or ethical belief; or by use of personal anecdote, case study, or analogy).
• clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, expressions of commonly accepted beliefs, and logical reasoning.
• anticipate and address the listeners’ concerns and counterarguments.

10.7.19
Deliver descriptive presentations that:
• establish a clear point of view on the subject of the presentation.
• establish the relationship with the subject of the presentation (whether the presentation is made as an uninvolved observer or by someone who is personally involved).
• contain effective, factual descriptions of appearance, concrete images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.

Standard 5, Writing

Standard 5, Writing: Applications (Different Types of Writing and Their Characteristics)

At Grade 10, students combine the rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description in texts (research reports of 1,000 to 1,500 words or more). Students compose business letters. Student writing demonstrates a command of Standard English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Standard 4 — Writing Processes and Features. Writing demonstrates an awareness of the audience (intended reader) and purpose for writing.

In addition to producing the different writing forms introduced in earlier grades, Grade 10 students use the writing strategies outlined in Standard 4 — Writing Processes and Features to:

10.5.1
Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories that:
• describe a sequence of events and communicate the significance of the events to the audience.
• locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
• describe with specific details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; in the case of short stories or autobiographical narratives, use interior monologue (what the character says silently to self) to show the character’s feelings.
• pace the presentation of actions to accommodate changes in time and mood.
Example: After reading an example of an autobiography, such as Helen Keller’s Story of My Life, use the structure of the autobiography to compose an autobiography of your own.

10.5.2
Write responses to literature that:
• demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the significant ideas of literary works.
• support statements with evidence from the text.
• demonstrate awareness of the author’s style and an appreciation of the effects created.
• identify and assess the impact of ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text.
• extend writing by changing mood, plot, characterization, or voice.
Example: After reading a short story, such as “The No-Guitar Blues” by Gary Soto, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, or “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, write responses that address each of the bulleted points.

10.5.3
Write expository compositions, including analytical essays, summaries, descriptive pieces, or literary analyses that:
• gather evidence in support of a thesis (position on the topic), including information on all relevant perspectives.
• communicate information and ideas from primary and secondary sources accurately and coherently.
• make distinctions between the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas.
• use a variety of reference sources, including word, pictorial, audio, and Internet sources to locate information in support of a topic.
• include visual aids by using technology to organize and record information on charts, maps, and graphs.
• anticipate and address readers’ potential misunderstandings, biases, and expectations.
• use technical terms and notations correctly.
Example: On self-selected appropriate topics, keep an academic log that lists essential student-generated questions on the topic, information in response to each question from a variety of sources including word, pictorial, audio, and Internet resources complete with accurate citations. When each question has been researched, summarize in your own words how you would synthesize the information in order to arrive at an overall thesis on the topic. Write an essay on the thesis.

10.5.4
Write persuasive compositions that:
• organize ideas and appeals in a sustained and effective fashion with the strongest emotional appeal first and the least powerful one last.
• use specific rhetorical (communication) devices to support assertions, such as appealing to logic through reasoning; appealing to emotion or ethical belief; or relating a personal anecdote, case study, or analogy.
• clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, expressions of commonly accepted beliefs, and logical reasoning.
• address readers’ concerns, counterclaims, biases, and expectations.
Example: Write a letter to a television network to persuade the network to keep a program on the air despite low ratings.

10.5.5
Write business letters that:
• provide clear and purposeful information and address the intended audience appropriately.
• show appropriate use of vocabulary, tone, and style that takes into account the intended audience’s knowledge about and interest in the topic and the nature of the audience’s relationship to the writer.
• emphasize main ideas or images.
• follow a conventional style with page formats, fonts (typeface), and spacing that contribute to the documents’ readability and impact.
Example: Write a letter of support or complaint in response to service that you received at a store or restaurant. Address the letter to the manager, including a clear account of the incident and requesting that he or she take appropriate action in response.

10.5.6
Write technical documents, such as a manual on rules of behavior for conflict resolution, procedures for conducting a meeting, or minutes of a meeting that:
• report information and express ideas logically and correctly.
• offer detailed and accurate specifications.
• include scenarios, definitions, and examples to aid comprehension.
• anticipate readers’ problems, mistakes, and misunderstandings.
Example: Take notes while watching or listening to a physical therapist give instructions on the proper way to lift, carry, or move large objects. Incorporate these notes into a safety manual to be used in the classroom or in a job setting.

10.5.7
Use varied and expanded vocabulary, appropriate for specific forms and topics.
Example: Write a sentence for use in a formal letter of complaint: The thermostat is dangerously defective as it fails to maintain a safe temperature, and I am seeking a replacement or full refund.

10.5.8
Write for different purposes and audiences, adjusting tone, style, and voice as appropriate.

Research Application

10.5.9
Write or deliver a research report that has been developed using a systematic research process (defines the topic, gathers information, determines credibility, reports findings) and that:
• uses information from a variety of sources (books, technology, multimedia), distinguishes between primary and secondary documents, and documents sources independently by using a consistent format for citations.
• synthesizes information gathered from a variety of sources, including technology and one’s own research, and evaluates information for its relevance to the research questions.
• demonstrates that information that has been gathered has been summarized, that the topic has been refined through this process, and that conclusions have been drawn from synthesizing information.
• demonstrates that sources have been evaluated for accuracy, bias, and credibility.
• organizes information by classifying, categorizing, and sequencing, and demonstrates the distinction between one’s own ideas from the ideas of others, and includes a bibliography (Works Cited).
Example: Write a report on the Globe Theatre, gathering information from books, such as Shakespeare’s Theatre by Jacqueline Morley, videos such as “Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Restored,” and Web sites by using a key word search for “Shakespeare” and “Globe Theatre.” Explain why the theatre was significant in the development of Shakespeare’s works.